In a report published Wednesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch reiterated its Neutral rating on Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), and slightly raised its price target from $17.00 to $18.00.

BofA Merrill Lynch noted, “The Alibaba transaction completion, return of capital announcement, and a higher-than-expected valuation for Alibaba modestly increase Yahoo's valuation and are a net positive given our concern that Alibaba capital would be used for acquisitions. The deal also increases our confidence that the Yahoo board is more shareholder friendly. However, the next increase in asset value is only modestly incremental to the stock value and we think new CEO Marissa Mayer will still invest in growth initiatives in 2013, adding near-term investment spending risk. We are maintaining our Neutral rating and increasing our fair value for the company to $18 from $17 on higher asset value.”